Nesting Instinct #PhiladelphiaFlowerShow

June 5th, 2021
Nesting Instinct #PhiladelphiaFlowerShow

Earth is the nest, the cradle, and we’ll move out of it. – Gene Roddenberry If we don’t protect it with great haste, it will no longer be inhabitable! In the center left you can see City Hall with William pinned statue on top. Dwarfed by the skyscrapers. I’ve been in #Philadelphia building a human-sized […]

A New Year for a Great Blue Heron

January 4th, 2014
A New Year for a Great Blue Heron

It’s bitter cold in Vermont and across the continent. But we humans are not the only ones afflicted. The heron in the photo below fell out of the sky in the forest behind my sister-in-law’s house two days ago. Temperature- minus 5′, more or less. When the beautiful bird couldn’t get back into the air, […]

Where the Wild Birds Fly: the Mystery of Migration

November 16th, 2013
Where the Wild Birds Fly: the Mystery of Migration

LAST WEEK when we were hiking at Tsankawi Ruins in the Jemez Mountains, I heard flocks of cranes flying above us. It’s a very different sound, a chorus of croaking, chortling, rattley, raspy calls…  quite unmistakable.  (The Forest service says that “Both the males and females make a rattling “kar-r-r-r- o-o-o” sound.”) As soon as […]

Dreams of Vastness and a Visit from Athena

October 5th, 2013
Dreams of Vastness and a Visit from Athena

Owls and airplanes? Strange things seem to be happening to me lately. For example, the other night I walked into the house in the dark. I had forgotten to leave lights on.  The moon is waning so it was pitch black. As I entered the  kitchen I was startled by something small, but larger-than-a-bug flying […]

Secret Lemonade in the Desert

June 1st, 2012
Secret Lemonade in the Desert

There are those who think Lake Powell is an environmental desecration. I agree. It was a mistake. A political pork barrel. A great tragedy in process. Many say it will fill with silt and sand within a few hundred years and cease to exist. But the old adage: ‘when you are given lemons, make lemonade’ […]

Aloha and Mahalo

April 13th, 2011
Aloha and Mahalo

This is the most magnificent, balmy atmosphere in the world– ought to take dead men out of grave. Mark Twain in Hawaii As usual, Mark Twain is correct. Hawaii does have magnificent, balmy sea breezes which rustle through the palm fronds and froth the translucent waves. I had never been to these islands before, but […]

Promises Kept

March 27th, 2011
Promises Kept

  Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love. -David McCullough Exploring the mysteries of the natural world through my art has become my life’s work, whether through the language of realism, abstraction or Visionary Realism. Though it can be grueling, exhausting, frustrating and demanding it is work that I love. […]

Intensity at the easel

March 9th, 2011
Intensity at the easel

  “The excellency of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeable evaporate.” John Keats What does he mean by “all disagreeable?” I think that he is referring to that state of oblivion when you’re immersed in the creation of your art. When it’s most intense you don’t feel pain, hunger or weariness. […]

Intensity at the easel

March 9th, 2011

  “The excellency of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeable evaporate.” John Keats What does he mean by “all disagreeable?” I think that he is referring to that state of oblivion when you’re immersed in the creation of your art. When it’s most intense you don’t feel pain, hunger or weariness. […]